Oregon IDs will include facial 'fingerprints'

Gov. Ted Kulongoski has signed a bill into law requiring a facial “fingerprint” on CDLs, regular driver’s licenses and identification cards
issued in Oregon.

The new law, previously SB640, is billed as a tool to help fight
identification theft. It swept through the Legislature.

Oregon residents will pay $2 more for the advanced security measures,
which are expected to run the state more than $700,000 during the next four
years, the Statesman Journal in
Salem reported.

Currently, driver’s licenses and IDs have photographs. Under the new
rule, the Oregon Driver and Motor Vehicle Services division will collect
“biometric” data – digital maps of facial features – for each applicant. The
faces of new applicants will be compared with others in a database.

When data matches those on file for a person, a license would be
issued. The scan would be compared to millions stored in the state database to
help prevent someone from getting a new license or ID in a different name.

Oregon joins 17 other states already using or planning to use similar
technology, the newspaper reported.